With the rapid development of technology America’s younger generation has grown accustomed to, digitally retrieving information, such as the news, has grown in popularity.
Laptops, iPhones, iPads — there are countless ways to get news via the Internet. But what happens when this information comes at a price? A growing trend in the newspaper industry is charging for online content.
Freshman Josh Bohm thinks news should be available without a pricetag.
“Occasionally I read it online,” freshman Josh Bohm said. “(We) should be able to get the news for free.”
However, when it comes to paying for online news Bohm would willingly pay to read. Not all students feel the same.
“Honestly I don’t think I’d pay for an online newspaper,” freshman Clare Hennigan said. “Although I see the writers’ benefits, I think if I was forced to pay for the information I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to read the news online like I do now.”
Some students don’t see the point in purchasing the paper online at all.
“Why would I pay to read the paper online if I don’t already read it here (in the residence halls)?” freshman Kyle Hunter said.
Sophomore Conrad Connor is one of many students not phased by paying for online news content.
“I for sure get my news online,” Connor said. “If it wasn’t free, I would not pay to read the news online.”
But Conrad said he doesn’t think his unwillingness to pay is going to be a problem.
“I believe there will always be free sources of news online,” Connor said. “I am usually on my computer anyway.”
Professors seem to see the situation differently.
“Do I pay for content? Absolutely,” said Randall Smith, MU journalism professor and Donald W. Reynolds endowed chairman of business journalism. “Having spent 35 years in the newspaper industry, I know the dedication and hard work that’s put into journalism each day.”
As for the actual cost of online content, it varies from newspaper to newspaper.
The New York Times website charges 99 cents the first four weeks, and $15 every four weeks after that. The Wall Street Journal charges $1.99 per week. The Columbia Daily Tribune charges $8 a month for online content or $99 dollars a year, and online subscription prices are lower for those who already have their print subscription.
MU journalism professor Michael Jenner said 40 percent of United States daily newspapers now charge for online content, one of the most recent papers being The Boston Globe.
“It is a result of not increasing online revenue,” Jenner said. “Requiring a payment before online access is inevitable.
MU assistant journalism professor Bill Allen said charging for online content funds quality reporting.
“Paying may be one of the best ways to support serious, responsible, independent, original news coverage produced by professional journalists,” Allen said.
But Jenner said if young adults today aren’t reading the newspaper at all, the entire industry will be at a loss. If this generation is not reading the paper to begin with, newspapers are already at a loss.
“(Newspapers) have to be smart about reaching new audiences,” Jenner said.
The strategy that newspapers are taking now “has risks.”
Allen said the new digital age of charging for online content is probably not what America’s founding fathers would have had in mind.
“We have to pay for it,” Allen said. “Just shopping at the dollar store of news and information is not what our nation’s founders were thinking of when they described a ‘marketplace of ideas’ that an informed electorate could choose from to elect good leaders and build a free nation.”
Some say that charging people to read news online is unfair, but others feel it is important to know that this information didn’t always come free.
“I’ve found you can read more on an electronic tablet and you can consume more news, and the experience sure beats going out in three feet of snow to retrieve the paper,” Smith said.